Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Obama approval over 50

Obama Approval in North Carolina:

Approve 52Disapprove 41

Barack Obama has the highest approval PPP has ever found for the President in North Carolina. Of course that may have something to do with the fact that we were formed during the Bush administration...

Nonetheless public opinion toward Obama is heavily fractured along party lines. While 82% of Democrats like the job he's doing, only 12% of Republicans do. Independents are pretty much split right down the middle with 46% approving and 45% expressing disapproval.

That party line breakdown is pretty similar to what we found the last time we looked at George W. Bush's approval rating, which was 41% in late 2007. Then 74% of Republicans but only 15% of Democrats approved of his work. The big difference is that while Obama does get decent marks from independents, they were not enamored with Bush at all, with only 33% approving of him compared to 57% who disapproved.

Beyond that the differences along demographic lines in Obama's approval ratings largely mirror how he performed with various groups at the ballot box. Women, African Americans, and younger voters all give him strong levels of support. He's below 50% with men, whites, and voters over 65.

It's interesting to note that Obama's +11 net approval rating is the same as the +11 support for the stimulus PPP found in a North Carolina poll last week. It's clear that issue became very entwined with his popular support in the state, turning most Republicans against him but keeping folks from his own party within the fold.

First off we would like to congratulate you on your fine public speaking skills. It looks like those who said the Obama Administration would strike while the iron is hot may have been correct, and the Administration may be doing it in a way that does not require them to even get a vote in Congress.